Here is a look at seven things likely to be a big part of President Donald Trump's agenda in 2018.
USA TODAY

FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 file photo, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, right, introduces one of the speakers at a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in Manchester, N.H. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, center, and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, left, also attend. The information coming out of President Donald Trump’s commission to investigate voter fraud has frustrated not only reporters and senators but now even members of the commission. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer, File)(Photo: Holly Ramer, AP)

WASHINGTON — Alan King, a Democrat from Alabama who served on President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission, said Friday the panel was “poorly thought out from the beginning’’ and after months of complaints should have been shut down.

“If this commission isn’t going to be run properly then it has no business existing,” King told the Montgomery Advertiser. “My belief when I started is it would be transparent, that there would be an exchange of information, that everybody would be in the loop and that’s not how it worked out.’’

Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday disbanding his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity after less than eight months, saying he didn't want to waste taxpayer money fighting with state governments over their voter data.

"Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action," Trump said in a statement.

King, a probate judge in Jefferson County, said he’s been frustrated for months with the commission’s lack of transparency, lack of communication and a host of other issues.

The commission last met Sept. 12 in New Hampshire. Several commission members, including King, said they had no clue when the next meeting was to take place.

King said he wrote commission officials months ago asking for more information, including the next meeting date, but never heard back.

Trump set up the commission last year to study allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election. Trump claims the election included as many as 3 million to 5 million fraudulent voters, enough to erase Hillary Clinton's advantage in the popular vote.

Many election experts dispute those claims — as does King. King was one of a few Democrats on the commission and an outspoken critic.

“It’s sort of apparent to me that the ideology for this commission was all about voter fraud. But I consider that to be a very minor issue,” King said. “The larger issues are voter suppression and keeping up with technology … and also hacking. That’s sort of been swept under the rug. ‘’

"This was set up just to steamroll through an agenda,’’ he said.

King said massive voter fraud is “a Kris Kobach issue that he’s manufactured.’’

Kobach, the commission co-chair and Kansas' Republican secretary of state, has been a longtime advocate for tougher voting restrictions. Kobach said Wednesday the investigation into voter fraud would continue despite the commission’s dismantling.

"It was a decision that was made to be able to move the investigation forward more quickly. It was a change in tactics," he told USA TODAY. "The president's commission was being stymied and stonewalled by Democrats on and off the commission to try to halt the commission's work."

King blasted Kobach’s attack on Democrats.

“He wants to blame the demise of the commission on Democrats. That’s laughable,’’ King said. “The demise is because this commission did not operate probably …and was run poorly. And yes there were lawsuits filed.”

National civil rights and voting rights groups called the disbanding of the commission a victory. The groups, which had filed several lawsuits, said the commission was an attempt to justify new laws restricting the right to vote and suppress voter turnout, particularly among minorities

The Democratic National Committee created its own caucus to counter Trump's commission.

"This is indicative of the fact that he was on a witch hunt to prove that 3 million people voted fraudulently in the presidential election," said Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., vice chair for the DNC panel. "It’s a narrative that none of us bought into. So the fact that he’s dismantling this voter fraud commission is to me truly indicative of the fact that voter fraud is not the problem — it’s voter suppression."

King said he doesn’t regret serving on the commission where he used the platform to call for more funds to upgrade voting machines and other equipment.

“Life is full of experiences - some good and some bad,’’ he said. “I wish it had been truly the experience that I thought it was going to be.’’